Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department provides to police forces on their deployment of live facial recognition cameras.

Guidance on watchlists is provided by the College of Policing in the form of an Authorised Professional Practice. This sets out the categories of people who may be included on a watchlist, which depends on the nature of the deployment. Watchlists must be tailored to a specific policing objective and reviewed before each deployment to ensure they meet the legal tests of necessity and proportionality.

Watchlists may include individuals wanted by the police or the courts, suspects, missing or vulnerable people, or those posing a risk of harm to themselves or others. In some cases, this may include vulnerable individuals such as missing children.

Although there is a legal framework in place, it is complicated, inflexible and difficult for the public and police to understand. That is why we have launched a consultation to support the development of a new legal framework for law enforcement use of biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies.